Monthly Archives: September 2010

OK, so in hindsight, the previous post didn’t seem very miraculous at all did it? I revealed I nag, my husband could be a jerk, and I am far from the perfect Christian…..I give up when I get frustrated or confused by God. Nothing at all miraculous in that post.

Except……. that God continued to work, when I had washed my hands of all of it, threw in the towel, and said “NO MORE”.

That was Sunday.

No more discussions. No more praying about it. No more nagging.

And then that very Thursday, out of the blue, my husband called me from work at 9:45 in the morning. He never calls me at work, he can’t! So, my thoughts go immediately to “Oh no, he’s lost his job again!” (Yes, I live in fear apparently, I already said I’m not perfect.)

I answer quickly and he immediately starts talking, like we’d been in this long conversation already, and he hadn’t just called me from work at 9:45 in the morning.

“God showed me a brand new baby girl.”

Huh?

“God showed me a brand new baby girl. Brand new…..so new in fact, I don’t even know if she’s born or not.”

I almost dropped the phone. Instead, the tears well up in my eyes so much the kitchen window is now completely blurry.

You see……I’ve seen the same thing. I’ve never breathed a word of this to ANYONE except my Mom, because, like I said before, I tell her everything. A baby girl. Not white. That’s it. And I didn’t know what to do with that, you can’t tell people that because people think you’ve gone insane. So instead, you write it in your journal…..or call your Mom, because you can tell her anything and she doesn’t think you’re insane.

We didn’t talk about it much when he got home, I was frankly afraid I’d dreamed the entire thing. But, he did share it with Austin because Austin gets that sort of thing too. He’s good like that.

I did ask him what he thought we should do now. Do we foster? Where is this baby going to come from? And he said he had no idea, I guess we’ll pray about it. But I’m NOT nagging, and I’m NOT discussing.

So, Friday, Mike comes home from work very anxious, excited, but anxious. And he tells me that he’s worried now. “I just feel like she’s here and we’re not there and she needs us! We need to hurry!”

Yes, I cried again. Don’t hate.

But, I still have ONE large obstacle to overcome: I am licensed through the State for in-home child care and I cannot do both. I cannot foster and work at the same time, it’s against the rules and I know this. But I’m proceeding with fostering because I know this is what God has now placed on BOTH of our hearts!

So, I emailed my caseworker and told her what we were looking at doing and I know already, I cannot do that, it’s against the rules. So, as I’m typing this letter, I pray, “Lord, if she comes back and says YES, then I’ll know it’s You and I’m on the right path. But, if she says NO, then I’ll know it isn’t what You want us to do, and I’ll stop.” And I send the email terrified of the answer.

Within 15 minutes, she called me. She begins immediately with, “DHS has a policy about child care and fostering, you cannot do both.” OK, so there’s my answer I guess…..I got it wrong. Big shock. But then, she continues on, “But we do it on a case by case basis, and only kinship care.” (meaning we have to know them, or be related to them, or know of someone that knows of someone, etc. It’s very muddy water there.) “But, take the classes. Go ahead and take the classes just in case. Take those classes in case you need them and then we’ll re-evaluate.”

Wait. So is that my YES or is that my NO? I’m confused. So I do what all confused people do: call their Mom. My wise and wonderful Mom listens to all of it and I ask her the same thing…..is that YES or NO? What do I do with that? And she tells me, because she is wise and wonderful……”You take the classes and when you are finished with the classes, then you wait for God to lead your next step. You don’t have the answer because He’s leading you one step at a time. You take those classes and you pray!”

I emailed the lady at Cherokee Nations about fostering. Mike’s Cherokee and so are the kids.

And Saturday, our packet came in.

A large stack of papers to fill out. Doctor visits to make. Fingerprinting to have done.

And peace.

God is trying to lead us stubborn people and we continue to make it awfully hard on Him. But, He changed my husband’s heart. And He’s teaching me patience.

And we’re on our way to fostering because God called us to do that now.

I’ve been wanting to post this for a couple of weeks now, but the timing just didn’t seem to be right. I wanted to talk to some friends about this decision (and obviously, my Mom was the first to know, because she’s my Mom and knows everything LOL) first so they could be praying about this with us. It isn’t something to get into lightly, or to get into for the wrong reasons.

The purpose of this blog in the beginning was to blog about my journey with Christ, and that really had been my focus for a long time. But some things, and some struggles, I didn’t want to blog about, so my blog grew strangely quiet.

I’ve been on the search with God about my Higher calling, and what is it that He wants from me. In my head, I figured it had to be something HUGELY big, that’s what a “calling” is right? Big? Life changing? God moves mountains, so a “calling” had to be like moving to China or Africa, right?

OK, well….that was what was in my head…..it’s scary in there…..it doesn’t play well with others…..

And, I do still believe there is something MORE, but my focus is definitely growing clearer on what it is He is calling us to do NOW. (I believe there are BIGGER plans for later, but that will come at a different time.)

Everyone that knows me, knows that if anyone mentions ORPHANS, I cry. Every stinkin’ time. That gets really embarrassing when it happens in church. ALL. THE. TIME. I have a soft heart for the orphan, well, children in general, but definitely for the orphan. I believe that God put that soft heart there for a reason. So I knew that anything I did would involve the orphan in some form.

I’ve been praying about fostering locally for 2 years now, however, my dear husband has NOT. He is a different breed……he doesn’t have that soft heart for the orphan. He likes kids…..sometimes……depending on whose…..but the word orphan does not make that man cry. And he’s never been interested in fostering.

EVER.

He’s always said he doesn’t like anyone elses children, why would he want them to come and live in his house?

And then……..last December THIS happened:

We ended up doing emergency foster care for Baby Girl. And God did something miraculous in Mike’s heart! Mike is an AMAZING Dad, so I knew he was capable of loving other children if he would give himself a chance, but he was afraid to try. This way, God forced him to look at himself and see that he does indeed have a very soft heart! But, after Baby Girl went home, it hurt his heart, and he was closed to the subject again. VERY closed.

I’ve told Mike that I thought God wanted us to foster, but he didn’t even want to talk about it. In my Quiet Times, I’ve sensed that God was calling us to do it, but he would ignore me. Then, about 2 months ago, God gave me a verse pretty clearly in my Quiet Time:

James 1:27 (New Living Translation)

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

So, in my excitement, I text the verse to Mike and when he came home from work, I was in tears and pretty much BEGGED him to at least PRAY about it.

He did agree to pray about it……but between you and I……I knew he didn’t. I knew he didn’t want to and that he wouldn’t really pray about it.

OK, well, that wasn’t the right approach either because he only grew hostile over the subject. Then, a little over 2 weeks ago, we were having lunch with our good friends and Mike brought the subject up himself…..only to be a jerk about my nagging. There was crying……NOT by him….there was arguing….BUT, he did agree to pray about it. I also prayed about it, but this time, my prayer was different:

Lord, I believe You called us to do this, but this STUBBORN man that YOU gave me isn’t listening. Either I’ve missed it, or he’s missed it. So, Lord, I’m begging You, take this desire to do this AWAY from me! Stop the tears every time someone mentions ORPHANS, and just stop with the foster stuff because unless YOU change that man’s heart, I’m done.

I’m not God’s bright and shining star everyday. I’m just sayin…….

And I let the subject drop. I didn’t pray about it. I didn’t mention it. I didn’t talk about it anymore. In my heart, that ship had sailed and we weren’t on it. Not even a passing thought ALL week!

(Gosh, I realize now this is terribly long…..maybe I should break it up into more than one post…….)

Just when you think I couldn’t possibly beat the “near-arresting” for shooting photos on the train tracks…..

……here I went and topped MY*SELF! 😀

Oh yes. I did. My Mom is so proud. {cough cough}

I had a photoshoot with a new client, I’ve never met these people ever. It was a referral from another new client that found my website and liked my work! YAY! But….these people were STILL strangers to me!

We are shooting amazing photos…..

I’m NOT one of those quiet photographers…..I talk almost constantly with my clients. It’s distracting from what we are doing and puts them at ease……and we do a lot of laughing. Mostly at me. 😉

So I’m shooting, and talking, and laughing, and honestly, we are NOT quiet. We are the OPPOSITE of quiet.

And then……we walk around the corner of the building…..literally within 7-8 feet of a homeless man peeing on a bush. Not IN the bush because that might imply that he was hidden.

Oh…..he was FAR from hidden. {GAG}

The dad sees him first and immediately starts laughing. Then the mom sees him and her face goes white, then red, then SHE starts laughing. I…..well…..*I* was clueless to what was going on and continue talking on the subject we were discussing (something about college). And I promise I wasn’t talking alone. 😉 LOL

When they start laughing, I turn around mid-sentence to see what they were laughing at.

{Pause}

O. M. GOSH. COMPLETE mortification.

And I continue on with the conversation in the HOPES of not making this Pee-Man feel uncomfortable that we ALLLLLLLLLL see what he is doing!

And then, after we had gotten a little distance from him, I realized……..We had been talking. And laughing. A LOT! He HEARD us! He KNEW we were there! {GASP}

So…….I turned around and shot a picture! hahahahahahahaha

Oh I KNOW! How awful!

WHATEVER! Come on…..really? Aren’t you so glad?

You’re welcome. I won’t tell anyone our secret that we REALLY did want to see a picture of that. 😀

Thank you, Rachel, for letting me come on and share my FUNNY with the world!

with his wonderful smile and love for everyone, he will be so greatly missed. It was hard living so far away from them growing up, but he made his presence known.

He was the reader of everything! He loved books and instilled that love of reading in my own boys. Hand picking Hardy Boys and old classics and personally inscribing each one with a message and his notable signature.

He is priceless. He had a story to tell, and he told it. He is a legend among men.

My prayer now, is that my most merciful Savior will come and rescue my Grandad from the shell he has grown tired in, and take him Home. I pray that my Grandad will share his faith with everyone that is there with him now, so when it’s their time, they will see my Grandad again….on the other side. I pray for peace and comfort to this wonderful man that I will miss so much.

This week’s theme is CHALK. Anything at all to do with chalk, as long as it includes a face.

I love this one of Brooklyn. I love that preschool age of childhood, when they learn to write, it seems to open up a whole new world for them! We find their names everywhere: walls, floors, any scrap of paper they can find……and in sidewalk chalk.

She’s my sweet girl, with the unkempt curls sneaking out from her ponytail afters hours of “cheering” for her brothers playing football in the field. And she’s just as happy to lay down, dirt coated and satisfied, on her stomach to write on the driveway.

A smirk refers to a smile evoking insolence, scorn, or offensive smugness. (Yes, I looked it up…..don’t hate. 😀 )

I think that fits the bill! This man is a very skilled dancer in our area and I was lucky enough to work with him/shoot him at a Strobist workshop I attended! He is certainly photogenic!!

If you think it looks familiar, I did use another photo from the same shoot….just NOT the same photo according to iHeartfaces rules. 😉 I’m not cheating! I promise!

Check out iHeartfaces! It is a WEALTH of knowledge! If you are just beginning, semi-pro, wanna-be, MWAC, or make a million dollars as a photographer (can I borrow a few thousand? 😉 ), there is something for everyone at this website! Helps that the people are incredible too!

This is gonna have to be a quick one……I’m JUDGING this week, folks! Boy HOWDY! There are some amazing entries this week!

So, this is gonna be fast.

Original:

First I cloned out the photographer out of the bumper of the truck. (I know…..I didn’t see it at first either! LOL Eagle eyes baby, eagle eyes!)

Then I did a boost action on it. Then reduced the yellows in hue/saturation. Then sharpened at 80/1.5/0.

Result:

EDIT #1:

Pretty nice! Acceptable…..but, it looks a little odd with that white background! So, let’s throw in a SKY! 😀

EDIT #2

No, you are right….it’s not perfect. I’m kind of rushing a little bit. I would NOT do that for a client. But, it is what it is today.

I used another photograph I have taken of a beautiful sunset over the snow….yes, it is really pretty. Makes me want it to snow instead of these 90+ degree days…..

Anyway, I made a new layer and copy and pasted my sunset picture over top of the photo. Then, I reduced the opacity of the sunset picture until I could line up everything right: stuff like the tree line. There was a tree line in the original photo and in the sunset photo, so I had to work the 2 to match. Then I reduced the original picture back into the sunset layer a little at a time.

Then, to help the believability of the sunset, I used a brush with a light opacity and selected one of the sunset colors and did a light brush over some of the reflections on the truck. Not a lot, just a little. VIOLA! Instant sky! Cool huh? Now, I wish the ducks weren’t directly behind his head….but I was rushing. I know, I’m a slacker. Whatever. I’m trying. 😉 Embrace my slack-ness. 😀

Now, here’s another hint that will help with the sky as well: if you use an off-camera strobe (I have a sb600), then you can properly expose for the sky, while artificially lighting your subject. That will give you proper exposure on BOTH. However, I don’t do it either…..I just use a fake sky. I’m a fake-sky-making-slacker. Love me, please.

There ya go!

Be kind-

Dana

I enjoy long walks on the beach, long-stemmed red roses……wait…..wrong profile.

I’m just teasing. Just wanted to see who pays attention to the written diarrhea my fingers produce from this distorted mind I have.

My photographic journey began in July in 2007 where I assumed I would purchase the expensive camera, and all my photos would be breathtaking, and I’d make a kajillion dollars. People would throw their wallets at me….I’d be famous and stuff….

I learned very quickly the error in my thinking.

It meant late late nights studying all I could and practice practice PRACTICE!

I’m not the best. I’m not the worst. I am learning, and I think it’s pretty acceptable to camp out there for awhile….maybe the rest of my life. For when I have reached perfection, what more is there to do?

Well, someone left the back door open, and somehow I slipped in unnoticed to iHeartfaces as a contributor! 😉 (I’m sure they have a bouncer at the door now. HAHAHAHA!) I feel like a big imposter compared with the amazing iHeartfaces founders and contributors and MOST of the wonderful photographers who join in every week for this wild wide of creativity and learning that iHeartfaces is.

It has helped me to grow tremendously and try new things and think outside of my normal box. I am so thankful for everyone that is in any way involved in this website: from the founders, to the weekly photographers that join in the fun with the challenged and fix it fridays! Thanks guys!

Dana writes: I am a wife of 18+ years, mother of 3 (15, 12, and 4), and a (more than) full-time job-holder who could not go to school to learn photography. So, I am mainly self-taught with a photography group online that has been amazing to me! My goal is to use my talent however God leads me, even if that means never going into a full time career of photography or being rich and famous. (Although the rich part might be nice……)

Dana’s Photography Journey:

My photographic journey began in July in 2007 where I assumed I would purchase the expensive camera, and all my photos would be breathtaking, and I’d make a kajillion dollars. People would throw their wallets at me….I’d be famous and stuff….

I learned very quickly the error in my thinking. It isn’t the camera, it’s the person BEHIND the camera.

It meant late late nights studying all I could and practice practice PRACTICE!

I’m not the best. I’m not the worst. I am learning, and I think it’s pretty acceptable to camp out there for awhile….maybe the rest of my life. For when I have reached perfection, what more is there to do? That’s my quote for the day. You can borrow it if you want to. Keeps you humble.

Dana’s Favorite Face Photos:

I am a Youth Sunday school teacher for our church, and every summer we hold a large church camp for teenagers. This is one of my very favorite times to shoot! I love this photo for a few reasons: I love our speaker, Brad Fogarty, and I love how you can see the motion in the photo even though everything is perfectly still. Look at his face and you can see the love for these teenagers. Look at the audience’s faces and you can see how intently they are listening to him. It just tells an entire story all in one moment!

This is a photo I took early in my photographic journey of my own kids. I have practiced over the years on THIS photo how to do good black and white conversions! My first attempt was terrible, but over the years, I continue to go back to this particular photo and practice my conversions. A good black and white technique is important to learn! But I love the simplicity of this photo. It’s one of those real moments in my kids’ childhoods that I will always remember…..even down to the oversized shoes my daughter stole from her friend! LOL I love how my oldest is glancing down at my daughter in such a natural gesture. Just one of my favorites.

I did newborn photos for a friend of mine, and I think this is when I first fell in love with newborns! I love this photo so much! The feet are so precious, and what I was shooting, when the baby yawned and I was lucky enough to catch it! Goodness, I love babies…..they make me all warm and fuzzy!

I love this man. On my Mission trip to Mexico, he was sitting outside this beautiful cathedral begging for money. He is homeless and sitting on every personal possession he owns. In his hands, he is holding the little Bible I gave him, and sitting next to him, is possibly the only food he will eat all day: the marshmallow sucker I gave him. And after I took his photo, I paid him for the simple honor of taking his photograph. I love his face, wrinkled and leathered by the sun, his smile: even in the midst of such terrible circumstances, he laughed with me and gave me the best smile his toothless mouth could offer.

I have started to do some Strobist workshops to help expand my knowledge of photography. This was taken at the 2nd one I attended. Remember, always keep learning! I’m so afraid to do new things, meet new people, and step outside of my comfort zone, but I want to learn all I can! I just love the COLOR of this photo! She just turned her head to glance at someone that called her name, and there it was…that perfect photo! It’s just simply delicious!

Fun Q&A with Dana:

-What do you love most about capturing faces?

I think our faces tell a lot about us: our emotions, our pain, our life story. For that one moment in time, this was my life, past and present, all of my insecurities, all of my confidence, situations and environment….it’s all captured right there! Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad, but for that one moment, it’s there, frozen. I think we all want to leave a little piece of ourselves behind after we are gone, no one wants to be forgotten. Which could also explain why I love to shoot old people so much! The older the better!

-What do you find most difficult about capturing faces?

Getting them to relax enough that their true character and personality come shining through. Some are more difficult than others, but when I catch it, I’m ecstatic! I was told one time that I can capture that natural smile like no one else can, and that just made my entire day! My little sister (10 years old) has aspergers and that was my hardest challenge. But I learned how to catch her beautiful smile, so I love to practice on her! And since then, I’ve been able to photograph other Asperger children/teens and have been able to find that natural smile! It just takes patience and a little wink from God.

-What was your favorite photo shoot?

I’ve recently discovered how much I LOVE shooting newborns! They are so much fun! It is very time-consuming and requires a great deal of patience, but the rewards are so great!

I’ve also recently started shooting for ProjectTiny and have fallen in love with these babies! I get to go into the NICU and shoot teeny tiny or sick newborns! It is completely voluntary and I cannot share the photos on my website or facebook, only ProjectTiny and the sweet family I am shooting for. It’s one of those completely selfless things that I love so much to do!

And I LOVE to shoot worship services for church events, but probably my favorite has been shooting my first Mission trip! I believe that God is working all over the globe through amazing missionaries, and we need to see that! We, who sit in our comfortable environments, need to see the amazing and beautiful things that God is doing in remote, deprived, and scary places! And I want to go and shoot those things for people to see!

-Surely you have a “most embarrassing” photography moment you can share with us? 🙂

I once shot an engagement session for an acquaintance and I was meeting her fiance for the first time. She tells me at the beginning of the session that he was a model for Abercrombie and Fitch, and I almost peed myself right there! I did alright, but it took ME a long time to calm down and get into my “groove”! I’m easily intimidated! LOL (I just said “peed myself” on iHeartFaces. OOPS!)

I’ve also been threatened to be thrown in jail while on a photo shoot too! LOL Apparently, it is against the law to shoot photos on railroad tracks. I’m such a rule breaker! LOL Good thing the Senior and her mother had a GREAT sense of humor!

There’s your tip for the day: Stay off of railroad tracks.

You’re welcome.

Dana’s Helpful Hint:

Keep going. Keep practicing. Always keep learning. I just believe that we NEVER stop learning! I don’t ever see myself as “good enough” when I look at other professional photographers, so I always keep practicing, always keep learning. And don’t give up. Don’t ever quit.

In the beginning of my journey, I surrounded myself with people that “LOVED” my photos! It didn’t matter how awful that photo was, they had nothing but GREAT things to say about it. That was a complete detriment to my learning. I had one photographer that was totally honest about my photos and gave me an HONEST critique. Oh how I HATED that lady, and I almost quit right then and there. But after I got over my initial offense that she could dare say those things, I made it my mission to get BETTER. That is what changed my photo journey for me. I had to learn to ACCEPT critiques on my work in order to improve! And yes, some things are objective, but when it comes to technique and overall skill, you have to be able to hear what is technically “wrong” with your photo! It is not a personal attack on you and you shouldn’t give up! But you should take that and LEARN from it for the next time. This is one reason why I LOVE when iHeartFaces has the Critiques! It makes us better photographers!

Another tip that I was taught (funny enough, by that SAME amazing photographer that critiqued my work LOL) for capturing those amazing catch-lights in the eyes: take your subject by the shoulders (you may want to practice this first on your friends or children so your clients don’t think you are man-handling them. LOL) and look straight into their eyes. Turn them until you see their eyes light up from the light source! When you find that natural catch-light, take the photo! But always find your light source FIRST before you start shooting. It makes a tremendous difference in your photos!

Special Note from Angie & Amy: If you would like to take Dana’s advice to heart and begin using Constructive Criticism as a way to improve your photography, we have an amazing CC Group set up in our free Community Website. This group is extremely active and there are a lot of photographers who are sharing and growing together over there. Give it a try today! 🙂

Dana’s Photography Equipment:

I have a Nikon D90 and a D80 as my back up. My favorite lens right now is my 35mm. It stays on my camera MOST of the time! I also have the 50mm 1.8. I really REALLY want a good MACRO lens like the 100mm, as well as a great zoom lens. I haven’t found a great one yet. I don’t have a lot of expensive toys or gadgets, I’m a pretty simple girl with a real budget. I’m not one of those amazingly famous photographers with tons of money. I’m just a part-timer that loves to do this! I buy what I can, when I can, and I learn everything I can. Remember, it’s NOT the expensive stuff that makes the beautiful pictures……it’s the photographer. Learn everything you can about what you have to work with. Master that first, and when your budget grows, your skill will have too.

I use Adobe Photoshop CS4 to do all of my editing and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Florabella actions!

This week’s photo was a definite challenge. I’m not too proud to admit it. LOL

When a photo is out of focus, it’s really difficult to make IN focus. When you do, you increase the noise (pixel fragments) in the photo. The photo really is super adorable though, and the girl couldn’t be any cuter! (I’m a sucker for girls in bows! 😀 ) So, in order to fix the photo IN-CAMERA, obviously you would need to fix the focus issue: motion blur, exposure, etc.

ORIGINAL PHOTO:

So, what can you do after you already have the photo and still want to try and save it? Well, this is the point of this Fix it Friday!

EDIT #1

I just tried to disguise it as much as possible without increasing the noise in the photo. Sometimes, converting the photo to Black and White can help save the photo. Exposure issues, focus (to a degree), and white balance can be saved with the help of a Black and White conversion. So, this was my go-to edit today! (Yes, I may be a cheater and I’m just fine with that.) I used Florabella’s Luxe action “B/W mink” and then just cropped in. I sharpened using USM set at 80/2/0.

EDIT #2 (yes, I only have 2 edits this week….I’m weak. And a cheater. I’ll own it.)

My other idea for an edit was to DISGUISE the focus issue. (Or distract you, one or the other) I opened a NEW transparent document in Photoshop and used a background/texture from Simplicity Photo Veils called “Brave” as my base for the photo. I added the photo as a new layer over the Veil and then using my select tool, I made an oval around the picture. Then did SELECT>INVERT then SELECT>MODIFY>FEATHER at 250 pixels then used my eraser to blend the edges of the photo so there weren’t any sharply defined edges and everything blended together well. I added a linen texture (not sure where I got it from) and added that in erasing back the parts of the photo I didn’t want the texture on (her face). I wanted it to look like a canvas print. Then I just added the verse.

Dana

I enjoy long walks on the beach, long-stemmed red roses……wait…..wrong profile.

I’m just teasing. 😉 Just wanted to see who pays attention to the written diarrhea my fingers produce from this distorted mind I have.

My photographic journey began in July in 2007 where I assumed I would purchase the expensive camera, and all my photos would be breathtaking, and I’d make a kajillion dollars. People would throw their wallets at me….I’d be famous and stuff….

I learned very quickly the error in my thinking.

It meant late late nights studying all I could and practice practice PRACTICE!

I’m not the best. I’m not the worst. I am learning, and I think it’s pretty acceptable to camp out there for awhile….maybe the rest of my life. For when I have reached perfection, what more is there to do?

Oh this beautiful photo…….I’m trying really hard NOT to totally hate Rachel and her beautiful self. 😉 Gosh, I wish I looked a FRACTION of her goodness! So, with a begrudging heart, I went about “fixing” this photo. (Darn beautiful girls! 😀 )

Original:

The only problem that I see in this photo is it lacks PIZAZZ! There’s no OOMPH! Nothing that makes you stop and look twice at it (other than the pretty people in it…..I promise, I’m not bitter or anything 😉 ).

So, for my edits, I wanted to add some kind of drama! Something that makes the couple POP out! In some of them, I think I accomplished that. Anyway, that was my GOAL.

EDIT #1

For my SIMPLE edit, I ran AUTO color, contrast and tone just to see how it would turn out. Because of all the green in the photo, photoshop overcompensated by adding more magenta to the photo. To fix this, I opened my COLOR BALANCE and adjusted the colors. I added a touch more blue, yellow, and green to the photo. Then I used LEVELS and adjusted the midtones and shadows to make the photo POP. Then, on a whim, I used my BURN TOOL with an opacity of 13% to burn some of the foliage and bring them OUT of the highlights. It just brought back some of the details of the photo. I used USM set at 80/2/0 to sharpen the photo. I cropped with the couple off-center.

EDIT #2

Because I did my basic edit, I wanted to play a little with my bag of tricks. I do believe it is IMPORTANT to know the BASICS (at the very least) of editing before you start playing with actions. If you do not know how to duplicate an action yourself (using only photoshop and NOT the use of any actions to come up with roughly the same effect) then I do not believe you are ready to play with actions. Actions are a time saver and totally FUN, but if you do not know how to work Photoshop on your own, learn FIRST before you play. Fix it Friday is a GREAT opportunity to learn and practice!

For this edit, I used Florabella’s Vintage Spring I action “Rain”. Then I ran her sharpen/defog action (because it was quick to do it right there while I had my actions open). I cropped with more room on the right this time just for a different option, but then after comparing the 2, I really think THIS is my favorite crop! His glance backward makes you unconsciously scan the rest of the photo to follow his gaze. I like this crop. I am pleased with it. Then, on a whim, I ran “sun/lens flare right” from the same action set and I was pleased with the result.

EDIT #3

I am simply CRAZY about a great black and white and I LOVED the contrast on this one! I used Route 66’s Photo flavor action called “Simple B&W” and then used their sharpening action “Steak knife” (with a reduced opacity). Then added the text “LOVE” because I’m all sappy.

EDIT #4 (last one, and one I’m really excited about!)

I’ve been studying some Photoshop tutorials and trying to learn some new tricks when I came across a tutorial for adding a BLUE sky back to your photograph! Here, let me teach you something for a second:

If you expose for the SKY, the people will be underexposed, and in some cases, complete shadows or a silhouette.

If you expose for the PEOPLE (or any other subject), then the sky will be completely overexposed and blown out.

However, if you use OFF CAMERA LIGHTING, like a Strobe of some kind, then you can properly expose for the sky, and your subjects will be properly exposed because of the off-camera light.

There you go, your little lesson on exposure today. BUT, there is a way to add back a nice, blue sky using PHOTOSHOP! (And please keep in mind, this is my FIRST attempt at it, so if it looks wonky, I plead for your forgiveness. This is why I don’t do tutorials. 😉 You’re welcome.) I opened the photo (one of the previous edits I believe with a different crop to include more of the sky), made a new layer, and then, using a photo I found (free for public use, I checked first) on Flickr of a beautiful blue sky, I copied the photo of the blue sky and layered it onto my photo! I reduced the opacity of the layer, then used my eraser tool set at 50% opacity to erase what I wanted in the photo to shine through the sky. Then I used the opacity slider for my sky to try to find an opacity that looked somewhat real. And VIOLA! Beautiful blue sky in a wonderfully exposed photograph!

😀 I’m all proud.

Be KIND, and always keep LEARNING!

Dana-My photographic journey began in July in 2007 where I assumed I would purchase the expensive camera, and all my photos would be breathtaking, and I’d make a kajillion dollars. People would throw their wallets at me….I’d be famous and stuff….

I learned very quickly the error in my thinking.

It meant late late nights studying all I could and practice practice PRACTICE! Because I am later in life discovering this God-given talent, I am now a wife of 18+ years, mother of 3 (15, 12, and 4), and a full-time+ job-holder who could not go to school to learn photography. So, I am mainly self-taught with a photography group online that has been amazing to me!

I’m not the best. I’m not the worst. I am learning, and I think it’s pretty acceptable to camp out there for awhile….maybe the rest of my life. For when I have reached perfection, what more is there to do?